1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print system by a mobile terminal for providing a printing service by combination of browser devices such as a cellular phone (Web phone, browser phone, smart phone) accessible to Internet and a mobile terminal (Palm, PDA, sub notebook-size personal computer) with a printing apparatus, and a network system using the mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it has been possible to use a cellular phone and mobile terminal (hereinafter referred to as the mobile terminal) and browse information, mail, and the like on the Internet whilst on the move. However, in the mobile terminal, an information display area cannot be enlarged, so browsing of detailed information is limited.
Therefore, a service of printing/outputting information on the mobile terminal is considered with the intention of supplementing the information display function of the mobile terminal. At present, it is mainly proposed to connect a small-sized printer directly to the mobile terminal and print/output the information. However, in order to utilize an advantage that the mobile terminal can be utilized “anytime and anywhere”, the small-sized printer has also to be carried. As a result, the attractive characteristic of “handiness” of the mobile terminal is lost.
As a countermeasure against this situation, a stationary, installed type is considered. That is, it is proposed to combine a (non-mobile) printer with the mobile terminal and construct a service system for a user to print the information on the mobile terminal.
As an associated example, as disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 146118/1999 (Data Processing System, Data Processing Method of Data Processing System and Storage Medium with Computer Readable Program stored therein by Cannon Inc.), a system constituted by combining a server with an image forming apparatus communicates with the mobile terminal, and a printing service is provided at an arbitrary installation place while a fee is charged. In this example, the information to be printed is transmitted to the server from an information terminal, and the information is received and printed from the server in the arbitrary place, so that a demand for the printing whilst on the move can be satisfied. Moreover, a user authentication processing and charging processing are also considered.
As an example of a simpler system, as described in an article (Interface Acceleration with Network) of Nikkei Sangyo Newspaper dated Mar. 3, 2000, it is considered to use Jini or Bluetooth and print a communication content directly via a printer from the cellular phone.
Thereby, there is a demand for a printing service higher in convenience as compared with a conventional service, by an on-demand print system realized by connecting existing-art devices such as a mobile terminal, printer and contents server, a database for storing printing contents, and inventive devices such as a print on-demand server for integrally performing charging, security management, user management, printing history management, and the like with respect to distribution processing/printing of contents to be printed to one another for communication on Internet.